To launch Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, the biggest game in PS5 history, PlayStation needed to break into mainstream culture and ignite Spider-Man fandom around the world.
"The Spectacular Save" showcased an extraordinary gaming moment in real life. Spider webs were used to stop an out-of-control truck in mid-air, creating the illusion of a narrowly averted disaster. This transformed Sydney into a real-life manifestation of the game’s immersive world, compelling fans to post it online.
We engineered a 2.5-ton truck to balance on a 5-ton baseplate and crafted Spider-Man-like webs using steel and melted plastic, creating the illusion of a truck suspended mid-air by spider webs – a huge disaster had been stopped in the nick of time.
Influencers received cryptic walkie-talkie invites to be the first witnesses of the stunt, while the public watched the truck's journey through Sydney via a social media video. No one knew what would happen; they only knew where to be.
In the bustling Sydney CBD, we unveiled the truck to the audience that had responded to our invitation. Within a few hours, The Spectacular Save had gone viral, quickly surpassing 100 million impressions—four times the population of Australia.
No 1 thread on r/gaming - With 14.3k Upvotes, the stunt reached the top of the most important gaming forum online
Seen everywhere - 368.5M+ Impressions were gained
Influencer Explosion - One influencer video created over 28 million video views alone
Earned eyeballs - over 70 pieces of media were published about the stunt
Fastest selling PlayStation title ever - 2.5m copies of the game were sold in the first 24 hours